Soap pulverizer and dispenser



Feb. 136. A. K. BURDITT SOAP PULVERIZER AND DISPENSER 3 Sheets-Sheet l M F/W Filed Aug 26, 1933 1 VE/VTOR 4? ATTOR/VfYJ Feb. 4, 1936. A BURmT-r 2,029,701

SOAP PULVERIZER AND DISPENSER Filed Aug. 26, 1933 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 /V TOR 2% MA d- Feb. 4, A BURDITT SOAP PULVERIZER AND DISPENSER Filed Aug. 26, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 .S/NGLE sP/RAL FOUR 9 FL U756 ATTORNEYS Patented Feb. 4, 1936 UITED STATES ATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

This invention relates to soap dispensers in which cake soap is pulverized and delivered to the user.

These devices are generally installed either on the walls or basins in public wash rooms. They are, therefore, subjected to abuse and vandalism and must resist such abuse as well as furnish a product in the form of pulverized soap that is finely grained and sufficient in quantity to make it no hardship or inconvenience to use the machine. Particular importance is therefore attached to the durability of the machine and to the cutting device used to pulverize the soap.

One of the objects of this invention is to pro vide a device that can be readily mounted either on the basin or on the wall, and when so mounted that it cannot be removed by unauthorized persons. This object has been attained by the provision of a device so constructed that it cannot be removed from the wall until the case is removed from the base and the case cannot be removed from the base so long as the soap chamber door is locked. The door lock is so designed that it cannot be forced nor opened except with a special key that precludes picking the look. When the machine is mounted on the basin, the base cannot be removed without the use of a special wrench and the case cannot be removed from the base for the reasons above stated.

Devices of this character are usually equipped with a cutting device belonging to one of three classes; viz., shaving, grating, or sawing as with rotary saws arranged in a spiral fashion. Shaving delivers a relatively large quantity of soap but the product is in flakes rather than powder and tends to lump when lathered in the hands. 'Grating delivers a satisfactory quantity of soap that is finer in structure, but the cutter has a tendency to clog up. Spiral saws deliver a fine powder but in an insufficient quantity.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide an improved cutting means adapted to increase the quantity of powder and to produce a powder of finer grain than heretofore without the clogging of the cutting unit. The device hereinafter described has been'found to provide a grating type of cutter as opposed to the saw type in its principle of operation in that it presents a relatively large scraping face against the soap compared with the straight-line action of saw teeth.

It is also an object of this invention to provide for renewal or replacement of the cutting means when worn and to provide for optional arrangements of the cutting unit to govern the quantity of pulverized soap delivered to the user of the machine according to the character of service in which the machine is used, without in any way changing the character of the cutting unit. This is particularly desirable where the device is used to pulverize exceptionally hard soaps such, for 5 example, as pumice soap and lava soap.

For efficient, economical and satisfactory operation it is desirable that a dispenser of this nature deliver a substantially constant amount of soap per rotation of the handle. This can be obtained only by maintaining constant the pressure of the soap on the pulverizer. In an endeavor to obtain this result it has heretofore been proposed to maintain the soap in contact with the pulverizer by a weight acting upon the soap. Such construction was undesirable in that to get the desired pressure on the soap necessitated the employment of a weight which was relatively large and which therefore necessitated making the machine objectionally large and costly. It has, therefore, become the practice to maintain the soap in contact with the pulverizer by a compression coil spring inserted between the soap and the upper portion of the casing.

This coil spring type of feed, however, has not been entirely satisfactory in that if the spring has the necessary number of convolutions and the wire thereof is of sufilcient size and strength to produce the desired substantially constant pressure on the soap, both when the cake be new and when it is nearly consumed, the spring may not be compressed into a relatively small compass such that it may be inserted within the relatively small space between the casing and the top of the cake of soap.

Another object of this invention, therefore, is to provide an improved pressure means against the soap that will insure substantially uniformity of the pressure as the soap is reduced to a small size, as well as sufficient strength of pressure at all times to assure a definite and constant supply of the pulverized soap.

A further object of this invention is to provide, through cooperation of the door and the look, a means by which an interested person can ascertain whether or not the machine is supplied with soap.

Other objects and advantages will be in part indicated in the following description and in part rendered apparent therefrom in connection with the annexed drawings.

To enable others skilled in the art so fully to apprehend the underlying features hereof that they may embody the same in the various ways contemplated by this invention, drawings depicting a preferred typical construction have been annexed as a part of this disclosure and, in such drawings, like characters of reference denote corresponding parts throughout all the views of which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the device arranged for mounting on the wall. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the device arranged for mounting on sinks or other fiat objects; Fig. 3 is a rear view of the device as arranged for sink mounting. Figs. 4 and 5 are cross-section and rear views respectively of the wall-mounting type; Figs. 6 and 7 are detail views showing two of the arrangements contemplated for the pulverizing unit. Fig. 8 is a disassembled View showing the construction of the pulverizing or cutter unit; Fig. 9 are edge and face views of three of the styles of cutters contemplated. Fig. 10 is a perspective view of a bar of soap as used in the device. Fig. 11 is a detail perspective view of a portion of my improved soap feeding spring in expanded position. Fig. 12 is a side view of a portion of the spring showing it in its compressed state. Fig. 13 is an enlarged sectional view through the lock showing the key hole extending therethrough and serving as a peep hole. Fig. 14 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the cutting action of various types of cutters.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, and first to Figs. 1, 4 and 5, the Wall type form is disclosed as comprising a substantially closed casing adapted to house the soap, the soap feeding means and the pulverizing means, all later to be referred to. The casing preferably is formed of a back plate 4 and a main shell 5 removably secured thereto, as by screws 2| passing through flanges 5B of the main shell and threaded into apertures in the back plate. At its lower end the main shell is reduced in size and is provided with a discharge opening 5*.

The plate 4 is mounted in spaced relation with a supporting wall, so as to permit easy manipulation of the handle which actuates the pulverizer. To that end, the rear plate is attached by screws 22 to plates 3 each secured in one end of a tubular post 2, the opposite end of which is fastened to a plate I adapted to engage the supporting wall. Screws 23 passed through the rear plate, the plate 3 and the tubular posts are threaded into or otherwise engage the wall to support the dispenser thereon. It is to be noted that the heads of the screws 2|, 22 and 23 are all within the casing and therefore are not accessible when the machine is in use.

The front wall of the casing is provided with an opening l3, at the upper edge of which is hinged, on a pin IS a door l3. This door is normally maintained closed by means of a key-controlled lock 5. A coil spring 20 surrounding the hinge pin has one leg engaging the inner face of the door and tends to swing the door to open position whenever it is unlocked. The lock l5,

which normally maintains the door |3 closed, comprises a sheet metal casing l9 welded or otherwise secured upon the inside of the door and provided with a spring pressed bar having two depending jaws I6 adapted to engage behind the front wall of the casing. Within the casing I9 there is mounted a rotatable cam |9 adapted to be engaged by a suitable key passed through a keyhole 5| in the door to shift the member |5 and withdraw the jaws from behind the wall of the casing 5 thereby to permit the door to be opened. The member IQ of the lock is provided with an aperture 56 in alignment with the keyhole 5| through which an interested person may ascertain whether or not there is soap in the device.

As shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4 that portion of the casing immediately surrounding the door opening I3 is depressed inwardly thereby permitting the door to be let into the casing and, when closed, to lie in the plane of the front wall thereof. This countersunk arrangement prevents forcing of the door by precluding the insertion of any instrument between the door and the casing.

The screws 2|, which attach the main shell to the back plate, are substantially in alignment with the door opening and therefore may be reached with a screw driver whenever the door is open, but not otherwise. When the screws 2| have been withdrawn, the main shell may be re- .moved from the back plate for the purpose of repair or replacement of wprn parts by first moving the shell upwardly to disengage the semicircular down-turned flange 5 of the shell from the rounded upper end of the rear plate and to align tabs 58, which project from the rear edge of the main shell and normally lie behind the back plate, with clearance apertures formed in the back plate, and then moving the shell forwardly. Only with the door open may the screws 2| be reached and only with main shell removed may access be had to the screws 22 and 23. From this, it will be perceived, that only an authorized person having a key to the lock may remove or disturb any of the parts of the dispenser after it has once been put into service.

The basin-supported type of dispenser disclosed in Figs. 2 and 3 differs from the form above described only in the mounting of the device. In this type, the back plate 4 is secured to, or formed integral with a standard |A having at its lower end a foot adapted to bear upon the upper side of a basin. The standard may be secured to the basin by means of a screw 24 having an enlarged head engaging the underside of the basin and a shank passing up through a hole in the basin and threaded into a bore in the standard. To prevent unauthorized removal of the screw 24 the head thereof is so formed as to be unadaptable to the more common types of tools, such, for example, as wrenches and screw drivers. Preferably the head is cylindrical and is formed with a central aperture of a shape adapted to fit only a specially formed key or wrench.

It is to be understood that the standard IA and the foot thereof may assume forms other than that disclosed to adapt it for attachment to various other objects.

Aside from the supporting means, the twoforms of the dispenser may be identical. Therefore, the following detail description of the soap feeding means, the soap pulverizing means, etc. will sufiice for both.

Within the lower portion of the main shell 5, above the discharge opening 5*, there is journaled a cutter shaft 1 formed with an off-set crank handle II. This shaft carries a plurality of cutting or pulverizing disks later to be described, adapted to act upon a cake of soap 52 slidably mounted in the casing and maintained in contact with the cutters by my improved feed means. This feed means comprises a pressure plate |2 slidably mounted in the casing and maintained in contact with the upper end of the cake of soap. An articulated spring l4, comprising a plurality of independent pre-formed and tempered leaves l4, secured together at their ends by any suitable means such, for example, as by riveting or welding, is fitted. within the casing above the. soap and has one end in engagement with the upper wall of the casing while its lower end bears upon the pressure plate I2. It has been found that a spring of. this nature will afford substantially four times the pressure afforded by the coil springs heretofore used in soap dispensers. and that, due to its construction and the extreme thinness of the leaves, the spring may be collapsed into materially less space than may the coil springs. of prior devices. Still another advantage afforded by the multiple leaf spring is that, due toits greater collapsibility, it becomes possible to utilize a spring having a materially greater number of convolutions and which, therefore, gives: a more uniform pressure on the soap.

Extending rearwardly from the pressure plate 12 and projecting through a vertically disposed slot 55 in the back plate is a handle or finger piece. 53 by means of which the pressure plate may be moved upwardly in opposition to the spring [4 for the purpose of inserting a new cake of soap.

The back plate 4 is formed with a forwardly projecting tab or finger 59 adapted to fit within a vertically disposed groove 60 formed in each cake of soap. This cooperation between the finger 59 and the groove in the soap affords a double advantage, first, it aids in guiding the soap and preventing lateral movement thereof, and secend, it limits the use of the device to soap especially prepared and designed to fit the dispenser, thereby preventing the indiscriminate use of soap which may not be adapted for grinding or pulver- 12mg.

Referring now to Figs. 6 to 9 it will be seen that my improved cutters are made up of a plurality of disks each having an unbroken toothed periphery. In Fig. 9 there are shown three forms of the cutters. The reference character 9A represents my so-called two-flute cutter. This is made by taking a fiat serrated or toothed disk and deflecting diametrically opposite portions 9 to opposite sides of the center line of the disk. The second form of cutter 9 is provided with four flutes 9 arranged 90 apart and deflected to opposite sides of the center line a. The cutter designated 9B is formed with six flutes 60 apart and arranged alternately at oppositesides of the center line 3:. It is to be understood that the cutters 9A, 9 and 9B will deliver different amounts of pulverized soap per rotation and that even the least productive of them, that is cutter 9A, will deliver approximately twice the amount of soap delivered by the conventional single spiral cutter. This may best be understood by referring to diagrammatic Fig. 14. From this figure it will be apparent that, with a single spiral cutter .2, as used in certain prior dispensers, one rotation of the cutter will effect a single grinding operation, as shown by the line e on a given area of the soap, which area is designated as d. With the use of the two-flute cutter 9A a single rotation of the cutter will cause the periphery of the cutter to traverse the area d twice, as indicated by the line 1.

One rotation of the four-flute cutter 9 will cause its periphery to traverse the area d on the soap four times as indicated by the line g. Likewise, the six-flute cutter 93 will traverse the area at six times in a single rotation of the cutter, as indicated by the line h.

From the foregoing it will be evident that my improved type of? cutter" will. deliver a. materially greater quantity of pulverized soap per rotation than will the spiral cutters heretofore provided. Even the double: spiral cutter shown in certain prior patents will deliver only as much soap as my two-flute cutter, while my cutters 9 and 93 will deliver, respectively, approximately two and three times that amount.

To permit the cutter disks to be assembled on the shaft 1- in any desired. arrangement each disk is preferably formed with. a central aperture I l adapted to fit upon a-sleeve Ill surrounding the cutter shaft within: the main casing. The sleeve I'll is: secured. to rotatev with the shaft 1 by means of. acotter pin. 6 passed therethrough and each cutter disk is formed with a tongue [8 adapted to fit within, a slot in in the sleeve l0. Spacer collars. 8 surround the sleeve intermediate the cutter disks and at the outside of each end disk. One of the collars is provided with a hole 54 which corresponds to similar holes in the shaft 1 and sleeve l0 and through which the cotter pin 6 is passed. It will be understood that by reason of this construction the cutter disks are securely held to the shaft 1 and may be rotated by rotation of the handle II.

It will readily be perceived that, by a proper selection of cutters, the device may be caused to deliver (within certain limits) any desired amount of pulverized soap per rotation of the handle ll.

Fig. 6 shows the cutter shaft fitted with six of the four-flute cutters 9. To prevent the action of the cutters on the soap from shifting the soap sidewise in the casing I propose to vary the phase angle of the cutters whereby the tendency of one set of cutters to shift the soap to the right will be counteracted by another set of cutters tending to shift it to the left. In Fig. 6 the phase angles of the three cutters at the right are approximate- 1y 90 from the phase angle of the three cutters at the left thus each set effectively prevents the soap from being shifted laterally by the other set. Fig. 7 shows alternate cutters arranged at different phase angles.

It is to be distinctly understood that various other arrangements and combinations of the cutters shown in Fig. 9 may be employed without departing from the spirit of this invention.

An important feature of this invention is the unbroken periphery of the cutters, the effective area of each of which overlaps the effective area of an adjacent cutter, as distinguished from outters formed of disks split and twisted and adapted to cooperate with similar disks to form a spiral cutter. In such spiral cutters it is extremely diificult, if not impossible, to so accurately form and assemble the spiral sections as to produce a continuous cutting surface, with the result that they frequently deliver large particles or lumps instead of the desired fine grains.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of this invention that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily adapt it for various utilizations by retaining one or more of the features that, from the standpoint of the prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of either the generic or specific aspects of this invention and, therefore, such adaptations should be, and are intended to be, comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalency of the following claims.

Having thus revealed this invention, I claim as new and desire to secure the following combina- -disk overlaps the path of an adjacent disk and at different phase angles so that the action of one disk counteracts the tendency of another disk to shift the soap laterally; and means to maintain a cake of soap in contact with said disks.

2. A pulverizer for soap dispensers comprising a manually rotatable shaft and a plurality of disks secured thereto, each of said disks having an unbroken serrated periphery with portions thereof deflected laterally to opposite sides of the normal plane thereof, said disks being arranged on said shaft in noncontacting relation with their effective paths overlapping and with the deflected portions arranged at various phase angles thereby to cause the disks simultaneously to produce oppositely directed side thrusts on the soap in the dispenser during rotation of said pulverizer.

3. A pulverizer for soap dispensers comprising a manually rotatable shaft, and a plurality of disks secured to said shaft, each of said disks having an unbroken serrated periphery with portions thereof deflected laterally to opposite sides of the normal plane thereof, said disks being arranged on said shaft in two groups arranged at a phase angle of approximately forty-five degrees relative to each other, the disks in each group being spaced apart and arranged at the same phase angle with a convex portion of one disk projecting into a concave portion of an adjacent disk so that their effective cutting paths overlap, the adjacent disks of the two groups also having their cutting paths in over-lapping relation.

ARTHUR K. BURDITT. 

